A night in the woods
by mirdaishan
Summary: When Russell sends Greg and Morgan to a crime scene in the woods, they get so wrapped up in their conversation on the way there, they end up not knowing where they are. The situation gets even worse when Greg's car decides to fail on them...
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, another Greg/Morgan story for you all! Hope you'll enjoy, it's spoiler free! :D**

_**Chapter 1**_

"Oh, good, you're not busy!"

Greg and Morgan both looked up from the paperwork they were filling out in their office. They had just wrapped up their case – Greg and detective Crawford had gotten their suspect to confess – and now they were just finishing off the last bit of paperwork. Their work was interrupted by their supervisor, however.

"Eh, actually we are, especially since you're the one who's always going on about us having to do our paperwork," Morgan said, a meaningful smile in Greg's direction. He smiled back at her, quickly hiding his face behind his computer after that. He was never sure how well Russell could handle comments and he didn't want to take any risks.

"Only because your father wants me to push everyone, but it doesn't matter," Russell said. Morgan raised her eyebrows, but before she could say anything, Russell already continued: "This just came in: dead body found in a cabin in the woods. I need you two to go there now."

"In the woods?" Morgan repeated.

"What's the rush?" Greg carefully asked.

"Do you know Lana Everett?" Russell asked in return. Greg nodded. "Yeah, sure I do!"

Lana Everett was one of the most popular women in Las Vegas. She was the presenter of a TV show with millions of viewers every week, she had three hit singles and she was well known for doing yoga and meditating.

"They think it's her body," Russell explained why he wanted them to go right now. "She was reported missing at the beginning of the afternoon. Friends remembered her talking about going up to the woods for some quiet time to prepare for her concert on Friday."

"But if the body they found really is Lana Everett's, then at least one police officer should be able to confirm her identity, right?" Greg said. "I mean, everyone in Vegas seems to know her, even the little girl who lives across the street from me and she's only three!"

"According to Brass, who's already at the scene, the body can't be recognized," Russell told them. "It looks like she was attacked by a bear… who scratched open her face so badly that you can barely see the skin…"

Morgan made a face of horror, Greg just frowned. "A bear?"

"Get why you need to go now?" Russell said, handing him the information they needed to get to the scene. "This paperwork can wait!"

"I'll go and get my kit," Morgan decided. Greg, who had refilled his kit after the interrogation with Crawford and hadn't brought it back to the locker room yet, nodded. "Sure, I'll meet you at my car."

He took the sheet of information from his supervisor, grabbed his jacket and kit and left for his car. He patiently waited for Morgan, enjoying the view of the clear night sky. Even though the day had been warm as usual, the temperature had dropped quickly after the sun had set and the clear sky told him it would probably get even colder. Only till the sun rose, of course, then it would just be another hot, Vegas day.

"Ready!"

He looked up and smiled at Morgan. He would never dare to say it out loud, but he thought she looked incredibly beautiful this evening. Instead of wearing her hair down like she usually did, she had tied it back in a curly pony tail, something he liked more because he could see more of her face now. She was dressed casually as always: jeans, stylishly tucked into her boots, and her, which he knew was her favorite, black leather jacket.

"Great, let's go!" he said. He waited for her to put her kit in the trunk of his car before getting in. As she got in as well, he tried starting his car. The engine made a bit of a sound, but wouldn't start.

"That sounds good!" Morgan commented.

"Yeah, I think it's due for a check-up!" Greg grinned. "It's starting to sound more like my great-grandfather every day. Eh… eh… pff…"

He pretended to cough like his great-grandfather used to do. Morgan started laughing.

"Well, if it's anything like my great-grandfather, it'll probably do anything for a cigar and a glass of whiskey!" she laughed.

"Great, you got any?" Greg seriously asked her. She laughed again, which made him smile. He loved seeing her laugh! His car seemed to like it as well, because after another failed try, it finally started. Greg programmed his navigation system and left the parking lot.

"So, tell me, what about these woods?" Morgan asked when they were about a block away from the CSI building. "I thought Vegas was a city in the middle of the desert, I never knew they had woods!"

"Yeah, there's a few areas around Vegas with mountains and trees," Greg said, trying to get his car to signal he wanted to turn left.

"A few even? Wow, I guess I really need to get out of the city more!" Morgan said.

"You've been out of the city for cases, haven't you?" Since his car still didn't want to signal left, he just checked if there weren't any other cars around and turned left.

"That's not the same," Morgan thought out loud. "You get to the place, you check for evidence and then you leave. You don't get a chance to look around, you're just checking if there aren't any footprints or cigarette buds or whatever. And what about that bear Russell talked about?"

"There aren't any bears in this area," Greg reassured her. From the corner of his eyes he could see she gave him a questioning look.

"At least not that people know about," he changed his answer. "So it probably means either someone somehow smuggled a bear into the area or it's a fake bear attack. I'm putting my money on that last option."

"Well, I'm not putting my money on anything until I know for sure I'm not gonna run into a bear while I'm out there," Morgan said, leaning back into her seat. When he looked at her, he saw she was looking at his navigation system. "Is that thing right? Is it really over an hour until we're at the scene?"

"The address Russell gave me is up in the mountains, deep into the woods," Greg told her. "Not exactly the kind of place where they have decent roads…"

"Hmm… Can I turn on the radio then? If your car can handle it, of course…"

Greg grinned. "I certainly hope so! Go ahead, choose any station you want, I don't mind. As long as they're playing some decent music of course!"

Smiling, Morgan started to find a station she liked. She soon came across a popular radio show which played Top 40 songs. Greg quietly drove as he listened to her sing along. After the third song, he couldn't keep quiet anymore: "You really got an amazing voice, you know that?"

Morgan smiled shyly. "I'm not that good…"

"Yes, you are, you're amazing!" Greg said. "Sara and Finn told me about the karaoke you did during your girls weekend. They weren't kidding, you really have a wonderful voice! How come you never told me?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno…"

"Didn't your parents and friends at school ever tell you how amazing you are at singing?" He wasn't ready to let the subject go yet. Morgan looked at him. "My friends at school never cared about music, they just cared about boys, clothes, make-up and their nails and my parents were a little too busy divorcing to notice my singing voice…"

"Right… Sorry…" Inside he got angry with himself for mentioning her parents. He knew how difficult the divorce had been on her, why hadn't he thought about his comment before just blurting it out?

"No, it's okay," Morgan said to his relief. "The truth is that I never sang much around people. At school I just murmured along during music class and I only sang at home when there was no one else there. I guess I was just afraid to let people hear my singing voice…"

"So… you got on stage in a crowded bar in front of two of your colleagues?" Greg mentioned, pretending to be very confused. She playfully nudged him. "Do you have any idea how much alcohol I had already had by then?"

"Well, if it's as much as I think it is, then you must definitely have an amazing voice, because Finn and Sara loved your singing and most people sound at their worst when they're drunk!" Greg commented.

"They weren't exactly sober either," Morgan reminded him. He groaned. "Okay, alright, I'll give up! You have a horrible voice, there, happy now?"

She nudged him again, an amused smile on her face. "No, because I liked your compliment. Thank you."

"You're welcome!"

Their conversation had made them forget to pay attention to their surroundings for a while. Now Morgan looked out the window, suddenly noticing how dark it was around them.

"I guess these are the woods?" she said. Greg didn't reply, trying to concentrate on the road, or at least: where the road was supposed to be. He suddenly missed all of Vegas's bright lights and blinking signs.

"You sure this is the right way?" Morgan carefully asked him.

"How many roads do you think lead up this mountain?" he asked in return. She leaned back in her chair again. "Right…"

He took his eyes of the road for a moment to look at her. Was it him or did she look paler than usual? She wouldn't be… scared?

"According to the navigation system it's only about another twenty minutes," he said, trying to reassure her. Morgan sat up. "You do know it says 'Lost GPS signal five minutes ago', right?"

"What? No!" He slowed down so he could look at the navigation system. It indeed said it had lost the GPS signal minutes ago already.

"Maybe I can use my phone to figure out how much further it is!" Morgan suggested.

"And you think you'll have cell phone reception out here?" Greg brought up. Morgan sighed. "No, of course not…"

"Look, it's just one straight road, if we keep following it, we'll probably end up at the cabins," Greg said. He tried to stay positive, but he knew it wouldn't be as easy as he made it sound. It was one straight road now, but for how much longer?

"Okay, go ahead," Morgan said, shrugging her shoulders. "Don't think we have a choice anyway!"

He checked the time on the clock and then gently hit the gas again. After twenty minutes of driving in complete silence he had no choice, however, but to admit his idea wasn't as good as he had made it sound. He had even already tried Morgan's idea to turn on the flashing lights on his car so they could see more of the road, but it was still the same road which seemed to lead nowhere.

"Look, this is useless," Morgan said. "Just turn around, go back to where we do have cell phone reception and then find out where we are."

"Where do you expect me to turn? Around a tree?"

The flashing lights showed he had nothing but trees on the left side of him and on the right side as well. Morgan pointed ahead. "What about that clearing over there?"

He stopped his car to see what she meant.

"That's not a clearing, that's just the end of the road," he said. Morgan groaned. "Great! Okay, I'll get out and see if you can make a safe turn. Just… If you see anything moving out there, warn me, you promise?"

"I promise," he quickly said, already noticing she had checked if she had her gun with her. He watched her get out of the car and then put it in reverse. Her hands waved that it was safe for him to start his turn. After about three inches of driving the engine suddenly went silent. He tried starting it up again, managed another three inches and then groaned in frustration as his car went silent for the second time. This time it didn't even want to start anymore. He looked up at Morgan, who had rushed back into the car.

"What's going on?" she asked him, a worried look in her eyes.

"Well, apparently my car has decided this is the best time to give up on us," Greg told her. "It looks like we're stuck out here!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, thank you guys so much for the reviews / follows and faves after that first chapter! Here's the second one, hope you'll it as much as the first one! Just let me know in a review! :)**

_**Chapter 2**_

Morgan shook her head, a look of panic on her face. "No, we can't be stuck out here! Try again!"

Greg did as she asked, even though he knew it was no use. He could try it a hundred times, but his car still wouldn't start.

"Let me try!" Morgan still said, clearly not ready to admit yet they were really stuck out in the woods. Greg got out of his car without saying a word. He rather had her discover that his car had become useless than start an argument with her over it.

"Okay, fine, it won't start," she crankily admitted after a few failed tries. "But I'm not planning to spend the night out here in the woods! Any ideas?"

"Well, we could see if there's some place around here where we do have cell phone reception," Greg suggested. "You and I both know there's plenty of cell phone towers around Vegas, so there must be one near. Maybe there's a place around here where all the trees aren't blocking its signal."

"Alright, just… not too far from the car, okay?" she said, a slightly scared look in her eyes. He placed his hand on top of hers on the steering wheel, ignoring the butterflies he felt inside, and gave her his most reassuring look. "There are no bears out here, Morgan, I promise! But if you want, we can check one at a time, then the other can keep an eye on everything around us."

"Okay." Holding his hand, she got out of the car, something which made his heart beat faster than usual. He tried to remain calm, though, and checked his gun. With his hand on it he followed Morgan around the car while she checked if she had any cell phone reception. After circling around the car twice, she lowered her arm with a sigh. "Right, so I got nothing. Your turn!"

Greg got out his cell phone and started looking for a signal. Morgan followed every step he took, looking around with her hand on her gun. She looked more and more uncomfortable the further away from the car he moved, but when his phone finally showed one bar of reception a smile appeared on her face.

"I'll call Russell to let him know what happened," Greg decided. He dialed Russell's number and put his phone on speaker while they waited. As soon as he heard something that sounded like Russell, he blurted out: "Morgan and I got lost and my car broke down. We need someone to find us!"

A lot of static noise followed. Morgan frowned, worriedly looking up at Greg. He tried again: "Russell, Morgan and I got lost. My car broke down. We need help."

He spoke slower, hoping Russell would be able to understand him this time.

"Gr… Wh… Ca…" Then the phone went silent. Greg stared at the screen, hoping his phone would pick up the signal again. When it didn't, he took a deep breath before looking at Morgan, a fake smile on his face. "Okay, so at least Russell knows we're out here, he can track the signal of my phone through the cell phone towers and then he'll send someone to come and get us. Give him an hour, maybe two, then we'll be out of here!"

"Can't you just be realistic instead of positive?" Morgan commented. "He barely heard what you said, if he does indeed try to find us through the cell phone tower, he won't be able to make out where we are exactly, so it's most likely gonna be hours before anything happens. Face it, Greg, we're going to be here all night!"

She turned back to the car and got in, slamming the door shut. Greg quietly got in as well.

"I'm sorry," he softly said. "I was just trying to make you feel better…"

Morgan let out a sigh before she looked at him. "I know, I'm sorry too. It's just that… I don't like be out here at night with the possibility of a bear walking around! Call me stupid, but I'm scared, alright?"

"Do you think this is my idea of a fun night out?" he responded. Actually, he didn't even hate it all that much. After all, he was all alone with Morgan now…

"If it is, then there's something wrong with you," she commented. She looked at him with a small grin. "You won't… you won't tell anyone, will you? I mean, everyone is always going on about me being so tough and brave, I'd feel… I'd feel embarrassed."

"My lips are sealed," he promised her. Was it him or did she look at his lips just a moment too long? Before he could start thinking about it, he noticed she was shivering.

"Hey, are you okay?" he worriedly asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just cold," she confessed.

"Oh, I can help you with that!"

She gave him a funny look, but he just leaned over his chair and took the blanket he always kept in the back of his car. Gently he placed it around her shoulders. She gave him a sweet, almost shy smile. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

They sat in silence for a while, staring out the window.

"You know, if that cabin isn't far away from here, maybe they can see us if we turn on the flashing light again," Morgan suddenly suggested.

"Sure, that's a good idea!" Greg nodded. He turned his flashing light back on, causing the trees to light up in red and blue. Seeing more of the woods didn't seem to do Morgan good, though, as her face slowly turned white as a sheet.

"There's nothing out there, remember?" Greg softly said.

"How should I know, I've never been out here! You seem to be the wilderness expert!"

He grinned. "Me? A wilderness expert? Yeah, right! When I was a kid, my parents already got worried if I spent too much time in the backyard!"

She looked up at him, an interested look in her eyes. "Really? You sounded to me like you spent hours and hours in these woods!"

"First of all, I didn't grow up here, remember? Secondly, I've never been camping in my entire life and thirdly… Well, basically I know just as much about these woods as you," he finished off his story. "Except that I do know there aren't any bears in the Vegas wilderness areas."

Morgan leaned back into her chair.

"What was it like?" she asked him.

"What was what like?"

"Growing up with your parents always trying to protect you that much?"

He thought for a moment before answering.

"It was difficult," he finally said. "Not so much that they were always trying to protect me, but more that I always tried to live up to their expectations. I could never go crazy or something, because they wanted me to be the perfect child who always did what they wanted. Get good grades, be polite, follow the rules…"

"Is that why you acted a little crazy when you started working at CSI?" Morgan asked him. He looked at her, a small smile around his lips. "Yeah, I guess that's why. No parents around, so I could finally let go and live my own life."

Morgan turned her head the other way. "I know what that's like. I tried to do the same when my parents got divorced. Just do what I wanted, don't care about the rules or what I was told. All it did, was get me into trouble, though, and make me feel embarrassed when I think back about it."

"Yeah, I know that feeling!" he admitted. Whenever he was reminded of his wild DNA tech life, he always felt kind of ashamed. Had he really been dancing around the lab? Playing rock music so loud the other lab techs complained about it? Wear a glove on his head and a mask with teeth drawn on it over his mouth? At times he even felt happy so many of his old colleagues weren't around anymore, because it meant they couldn't tell the new members of the team any more embarrassing stories. The happy feeling was usually followed by a sigh, because Sara or Nick always managed to come up with another story at that exact moment. He knew they loved talking about his crazy moments because they had always liked those moments, but he often wished he had never done any of those things.

Morgan looked at him again, smiling. "Some conversation to be having right here and now, huh?"

He smiled back at her. "Yeah, definitely!"

She fell silent again, pulling the blanket around her a little tighter. After a few minutes of staring out of the window, she sat up and switched off the flashing light. He gave her a surprised look.

"I know, it was my idea, but it's making me nervous," she confessed. "The more I see of these woods, the more I think there's something out there."

"Like in your classic horror movie?" he suggested. "First, a mysterious sound… Then, a twig breaking… More sounds, closer and closer… In the background you hear the music swelling and then…"

Before he could think of something terrifying to happen, Morgan had nudged him.

"Shut up!" she grinned. "I actually like those kind of movies, did you know that?"

"Really? Well, once we're out of here, we'll watch one together someday, alright?" he said. She immediately nodded, a smile still on her face. "Yeah, I'd like that. It's a deal!"

A deal or a date? Greg pretended to look outside to hide the huge smile on his face. He was starting to like being stuck out here more and more every second. If they had just been out at a regular crime scene or at the lab, he would have never had the courage to suggest a date like activity with Morgan. But now she had said she would like to watch a movie together with him, she had really said she'd like it. How could this night get any better?

"Have you ever seen Wind Chill?" she interrupted his thoughts. She started telling him about the movie as he didn't know it, but hesitated after getting to the point where two students got stuck in the snow on the side of the road after their car broke down. Because he reminded her there was no snow around and no chance of it starting to come down, she continued anyway. After giving away the end of the movie, one of the students didn't make it, he bit his lip. "Does this mean one of us won't make it out of here alive either?"

"Stop it!" Morgan called out, sounding genuinely freaked out. "You said there was no snow so I could continue!"

"You brought up the movie," he reminded her. She grumbled a little. "Yeah, I know. Look, there's no dead people walking around either, so this is nothing like that movie. Plus, in the movie there was no possibility of a bear walking around."

"There are no…"

"I know, there are no bears out here, but I'm a CSI, remember? I need evidence before I believe anything!" she said, pulling the blanket even tighter around her. She hid a yawn behind her hand, quickly turning her head so he wouldn't see it. He smiled at her. "It's okay, if you wanna sleep, go ahead, I'll keep watch in case anyone shows up to rescue us."

She opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it again. She nodded. "Alright. But wake me up if something happens, you promise?"

"I promise," he said, nodding as well. "You know, if you want, you can get in the back as well, you can lie down a bit more."

She looked at the back of his car, a hesitating look on her face. After a few moments of hesitating she looked at him. "Would you… Would you sit with me? I know it probably sounds childish, but I don't really wanna be all alone in the back there…"

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Sure."

He helped her crawl to the back of the car and then crawled over the chairs himself to join her. Seeing her shiver in spite of the blanket made him forget his nerves: he just wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She looked up at him with a smile. "Thanks, Greg."

"No problem. Now just close your eyes and try to get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay. Night, Greg."

"Night, Morgan." He watched her close her eyes and then pulled her even tighter in his arms. It was official now: this night just couldn't get any better! Well, actually it could of course, if she kissed him, but that seemed highly unlikely to him. Or maybe not, he thought. They had never been as close as they were now, who knew what else could happen. Okay, stop thinking, Greg, he told himself. Just let her sleep and keep watch yourself! And even though he desperately tried to keep his eyes open, he slowly dozed off to sleep as well.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Since there's no CSI tonight and I won't add the last chapter of A Valentine's Day push until Valentine's Day itself, I've got something for you to get through the day! ;) Hope you guys'll enjoy and you know: if you do, I really, really, REALLY appreciate a review! :D**

_**Chapter 3**_

Greg suddenly woke up, feeling Morgan shiver in his arms. He shivered himself as well, it seemed a lot colder in his car all of a sudden. The temperature app he had on his phone, which still worked, confirmed the temperature had dropped quickly while he had been asleep. He softly shook Morgan's shoulder to wake her up. "Morgan? We can't stay here, it's getting too cold. I have some matches in my kit, we need to make a fire."

She slowly sat up, brushing some strands of hair out of her face. When she was fully awake, she raised her eyebrows. "A fire? What are you planning on doing, setting a tree on fire?"

"No, I meant we need to build a campfire," he explained his idea. She raised her eyebrows again. "You wanna build a campfire? After you told me you never went camping?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Nick told me how to do it."

She seemed to consider the idea now, but remained silent for a while as she stared into the dark.

"Building a fire means we have to get out of the car, right?" she said after a few quiet moments.

"A fire keeps any wild animals away too," he quickly reminded her, already knowing what was going through her mind. After another few quiet moments she nodded. "Alright then, build your fire. But can we stay close to the car, please?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll build it right here next to the car, so we can lean against it while we warm up," he nodded.

"Okay, do it then."

He got the matches from his kit, grabbed his torch and handed Morgan hers. "We need to find some branches first of all. And maybe some rocks. We can stay together, but let's both look in another direction, okay?"

She nodded again. "Okay."

Luckily there were plenty of suitable branches around and rocks as well. Remembering what Nick had told him, Greg built the campfire and carefully lit it. Soon, the fire was burning brightly and most importantly, it started warming them as they sat against the car. Morgan had insisted on pulling the blanket around Greg as well, so they sat closely together.

"You know, if I have to be stuck out here, I'm glad it's with you," she admitted. He smiled shyly back at her. "Yeah, I'm glad it's with you too."

She rested her head on his shoulder, causing his heart to beat faster. "What do you think the others are thinking right now about us not being at the crime scene?"

"Well, it probably depends on who you have in mind," he said. She looked up at him, so he explained it: "Russell is probably annoyed we still aren't there, Sara will be worried, Nick would suggest a search party and Finn would just tell him not to organize one as she's sure we're late because we wanted some alone time…"

"What do you mean by that?" she said with a half laugh. He kept looking at her, trying to tell her with his eyes what he – or Finn actually – meant with 'alone time'. She gave him a nod to let him know she understood. "Right. Alone time…"

She rested her head back on his shoulder again. "She'll probably think that about any guy I'm off with! I believe she's already picturing me with every guy at the lab. Did you know that when she asked me if I was dating you and I said 'no', she started asking me about Nick and Hodges instead?"

"She… probably doesn't want you to be lonely," he suggested, very curious about the answer she had given after being asked about Nick and Hodges. Hodges, okay, they had fake dated and he knew she had kissed him once in an upset state of mind, but Nick? Suddenly he remembered her asking about Nick during the first case they worked together.

"Well, she doesn't have to worry, I'm not lonely!" she told him before he could continue thinking about the possibility of her and Nick together. "I've got you, remember? Whenever I get even close to maybe feeling lonely, you either text me something you just heard at that exact moment or you send me an email with something funny or interesting you found online. I like that."

"You do?" He had sent her those things hoping to make her smile and give them something to talk about. Since she never said anything about it, he had assumed she just didn't mind, but he hadn't realized she actually liked it.

"Yeah, definitely!" she smiled. "It always makes me happy and realize what a great friend you are."

A friend? Just a friend? He wanted more than that! Alright, Sanders, don't push it, you should be happy she called you a 'great friend' in the first place, he reminded himself. He noticed she was looking at him. "Did I say something wrong? Don't you want me to call you a friend?"

He faked a smile. "No, it's fine, of course."

Because they were still sharing the blanket, their faces were only a few inches apart. He could feel her breath against his cheek.

"No, it's not," she said, the volume of her voice lowered to a whispering level. "Look, Greg, I… I…"

She just kept looking at him, like she had forgotten what she had wanted to say. He felt completely lost in her beautiful eyes. He didn't even realize it himself, but he almost automatically leaned forward. Suddenly he felt her lips pressed against his, not remembering if he had been the first to kiss her or if she had kissed him first. It didn't matter anyway, all that mattered was that they finally kissed. It was a warm, loving kiss, one that he'd never be able to forget. Slowly they broke apart. She smiled shyly at him. "We just kissed."

"Yeah, we just did," he whispered, still looking into her beautiful eyes. Not willing to give up on the moment, he pulled her close for another kiss. Her response was eager, but full of love as well. A sudden sound interrupted their kiss.

"What was that?" Morgan sat up, looking scared into the woods. Their moment was gone, probably already forgotten about, Greg thought with a sad smile. He grabbed his torch and moved it around. All he could see, were trees, more trees and some bushes.

"Maybe it was just a branch breaking off from a tree," he suggested.

"Yeah, right! And how did it break off?" She had her hands wrapped tightly around his arm, but it wasn't a romantic move anymore, it was just pure fear. Greg couldn't believe things had changed so quickly. One moment they were kissing and the next his heart was beating wild again, but this time it was from fear.

"The wind?" he slowly suggested, knowing how stupid it sounded. Morgan made a face at him, one he couldn't blame her for. Of course it wasn't the wind, something had caused that branch to break off… if it already was a branch.

"Look, I can't see anything," he tried to reassure her… and himself. "Besides, the fire is keeping everything away, remember?"

Morgan grabbed her torch as well and moved it around. She held it still when the light hit one of the bushes. On the side of the bush was a knot of hair…

"Greg, I wanna get back into the car!" she said, jumping up. Greg didn't move, he was still staring at the knot of hair. It hadn't been there before, he was sure of that. He narrowed his eyes to try and see the color better. The hair was light-brown, too light-brown to be from a bear.

"Greg, please!"

Hearing the scared, begging tone in Morgan's voice Greg got up as well and got back into the backseat of his car with her. Before she could say anything, he had already locked the doors, checking them if they were really locked. While Morgan wrapped the blanket around herself again, Greg looked out the window, using his torch to try and spot the owner of the hair. Suddenly, he smiled.

"There's your scary monster!" he grinned. He pointed at a rabbit jumping out of the bushes. Its fur matched the knot of hair on the bush exactly. Morgan let out a sigh of relief. "I can't believe Bugs Bunny just scared us like that!"

She leaned back with her eyes closed, breathing in and out heavily. Greg continued to watch the rabbit, which took off with an incredible speed. Why, he wondered. Just because it wanted to or… His smile disappeared. No, this couldn't be real! He was dreaming, he had to be! Standing behind the bush between two trees was a real-life black bear…

He swallowed a few times before realizing he had to tell Morgan, even though it would scare her half to death.

"Eh, Morgan," he softly and slowly started. "Before I say anything else, can you promise me not to freak out?"

He would never forget the way she looked at him then. Never in his life had he ever seen her so scared.

"There's… there's a…"

He nodded. "Yes."

Grabbing his arm, she sat up to see the bear herself. As soon as she saw it, she grabbed him tightly, pressing her face against his shoulder. "Please tell me it's going away, please tell me it's going away!"

"It's not coming closer, it's probably scared of the fire," he said, trying to remain calm. She was only inches away from completely freaking out and he wanted to do everything he could to prevent that from happening, afraid the bear might come closer to see what all the noise was.

"Probably?" she repeated angrily. "You said there _probably_ weren't any bears out here, well, there's your proof! It's gonna kill us, I know it is!"

"Hey!" He forced her to look at him. "Pull yourself together, okay? It's not gonna kill us! We're safe here inside my car, the fire is keeping it away and within two hours, it's gonna get light, so it'll be easier for the guys to find us. Can you please calm down now?"

She nodded slightly, a few tears running down her face. "I'm sorry, I'm just scared, Greg, I can't help it, I'm sorry!"

"Don't be," he softly said, wiping away her tears. "I'm scared too, but freaking out isn't gonna help. Remember how you earlier said that you had me? Well, you still do. I'm right here, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, okay?"

She sniffled a little. "Okay."

He pulled her into his arms again, holding her tight while he watched the bear. Like he had said, the fire kept it away from the car and after a while, it disappeared back into the woods. When he wanted to tell Morgan the good news, he noticed, however, she had fallen asleep. Pulling the blanket around both of them, he closed his eyes as well and tried to get some sleep.

A while later, he woke up again. Why, he didn't know, but something in the back of his mind told him he had heard a sound. Had the bear come back? He opened his eyes and noticed it was light outside. When he decided to wake Morgan, he heard the sound again: knocking on a window. He felt Morgan moving in his arms as she was slowly waking up. She lifted her head, her blonde hair covering most of her face. She pushed it out of the way, looking at Greg, confused. Before either of them could say anything, they heard a familiar voice saying: "Hey, you guys comfy in there?"

They looked up and stared right in the face of a smiling Nick.

* * *

_(Don't worry, this isn't the end of the story yet, I've got one more chapter for you guys!)_


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, just a short chapter to finish off this story! A huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed or favorited this story, I always love knowing you guys like what I've written!**

**Enjoy this last chapter! :)**

**_Chapter 4_ **

Nick continued to smile as Greg let Morgan go from his arms. The younger CSI felt a blush appearing on his cheeks, but he tried to act calm as he quickly unlocked his car and opened the door. Nick gave them a wide grin. "Looks like you didn't need any help at all!"

"Greg, look!" Morgan completely ignored Nick, but pointed at something on the ground. Greg immediately saw what she meant: the ground around the car was covered with footprints, all made by a bear…

"It must have gotten closer when the fire went out," he softly said to her. He saw her shiver, which he couldn't blame her for. The thought of a bear being that close to them while they had been asleep wasn't exactly a nice thought for him either. He fought the urge to hug her, though, and whisper something reassuring in her ear now that Nick was watching them. Instead, he just gave her a little smile and then returned his attention to the footprints on the ground around his car.

"Yeah, that bear is all taken care off."

Surprised, they looked up, only noticing Brass standing a few feet away from the car now. He took a step closer and explained it: "The bear was part of a circus. His trainer took it out here to learn a new trick, except the bear decided the new trick was going to be killing his trainer. She is the dead body found in the cabin about twenty minutes south of here. Sara and Finn already solved that case, just if you two were wondering. Lana Everett was found safely and the bear was put down after they realized he was the one responsible for killing his trainer. Sara even had a big fuss about it as she didn't want the bear to be put down."

Neither Greg nor Morgan said anything, both processing what they had just heard.

"I guess you were right," Morgan finally said. Greg looked at her, not understanding what she meant.

"That there aren't any bears around here," she explained. He managed a small smile. "Yeah, I guess I was."

He hadn't forgotten yet how scared he had been last night when he saw that bear or how scared Morgan had been of course. He would never forget the look she had given him after he had told her about it.

"How did you find us?" Morgan asked Nick, changing the subject.

"Well, when Russell got that call from you, he could only make out that you guys were lost, so he figured you had called to say you were going to be late at the crime scene," Nick started telling them. "When you guys still hadn't shown up two hours later, he decided to try and trace the call. It wasn't easy, but he finally managed to find the area you could be in. A police helicopter then checked the area and saw a small fire next to a car. We knew it was your car, but getting here was a bit of a challenge. How on earth did you guys end up here? It's almost impossible to get up here! How distracted were you when you were driving?"

Greg faked a smile before simply telling the wide grinning Nick: "Shut up."

"Alright, alright, let's keep it friendly!" Brass interrupted them. "You two have been found, you seem to be okay, but just to be safe, I'm sending you two to a hospital."

"What? No!" they both protested.

"I said: I'm sending you two to a hospital," Brass repeated. "No questions, no discussions, I'm just sending you, understood? There's an ambulance just a little further down the road, it'll take you."

"We're f…" Morgan started, but seeing Brass's strict look, she stopped right there.

"I'll see if I can drive the car back," Nick said.

"Good luck with that," Greg replied. "Do you think we'd still be here if I had been able to drive it back?"

"Well, you never know!" Nick said with a big grin. Greg just turned his back to his friend and started walking towards the ambulance with Morgan.

"I thought you said it was Finn's idea that we needed some alone time?" she murmured. Greg looked back at his grinning co-worker.

"Yeah, I did think so," he murmured back. "I just meant the Finn with short dark hair and an annoying grin on his face right now!"

Just outside the ambulance he stopped and looked at Morgan. "What if he took pictures of us sleeping before he knocked on the window? They're going to be all over CSI within minutes!"

"Well, first of all: there's hardly any cell phone reception here, remember? He won't be able to send any photos, if he already took them, until he's back at CSI," Morgan reminded him. "And secondly: Sara and I once walked into the breakroom when he was asleep on the couch, his mouth wide open and snoring rather loudly. Sara made a video and took a picture… which she gave me a copy of on my phone. If Nick dares to post any pictures of us, I'll gladly take revenge!"

Grinning, Greg got into the ambulance with her. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he really loved her right now!

At the hospital, they were both sent to a different room to be examined. Apart from that they were hungry and thirsty, they were completely fine and their doctors decided they could go home again without any medication or further check-ups.

"I could have told them that before we got here!" Morgan said after she had asked Greg what his doctor had said.

"Brass probably just wanted to be safe," Greg defended the captain's decision to send them to the hospital. Morgan smiled at him. "Yeah, I understand. Better safe than sorry, right?"

"Right."

An awkward pause fell. Greg pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, feeling very insecure all of a sudden. Was he supposed to bring up the fact that they had kissed now? One of them had to, he knew that, so it might as well be him.

"Look, Morgan, about what happened…" he started. She didn't let him finish, she just stepped forward and kissed him.

"Whatever you wanted to say, this is how I feel about it," she said. "I kissed you because I wanted to, not because of the situation we were in. And I certainly don't think it was a mistake."

He smiled at her, a little shy. "That wasn't what I was gonna say. I was gonna say: it wasn't exactly a real date, so maybe we could plan a real one sometime soon… You know, dinner and a movie…"

"Well, we did agree to watch a horror movie together," she remembered with a small nod. His smile became a little bigger. "So it's a date then?"

She gave him an even bigger smile. "It's a date! Just… let's not watch that movie I told you about in the car, okay?"

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea!" he agreed with her. Smiling he put his arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck. This time he knew she was the first to kiss him, but he happily responded. It might have been a night full of fears, but thanks to his broken car and messed up navigation system he was finally together with the girl he had fallen in love with the moment she walked into LVPD.


End file.
